Suggi Huggi – OMITF 2019

The Suggi Huggi Jaatre was held on Jan 15th, 2019 at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, Bangalore, India.

(Suggi translates to harvest festival, Huggi is a kind of porridge served at the festival and Jaatre is a Mela or Village fair)

This day long event that began at 11 am and ended after 7 pm, was yet another run up event that was conducted in order to raise awareness about the upcoming Organics Millets International Trade Fair, Jan 18th-20th, 2019 (OMITF 2019) that will take place at the Palace Grounds, Bangalore. This is conducted by the Govt of Karnataka, Dept of Agriculture.

The Suggi Huggi Jaatre was the result of a commendable joint effort of the Kannada and Culture Dept, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Horticulture, Govt of Karnataka.

The event was well attended by Bangaloreans and there were also a few international tourists who seemed to be delighted to witness the festivities. This person from Maine, USA was pleasantly surprised to witness this event when he had come on a casual visit to Lalbagh (photo added with his consent).

The Venue

Lalbagh Botanical gardens provided a very suitable venue for the event. Similarly set up like last year, there were life sized fibreglass oxen welcoming people at the entrance and the entire place was decorated with flowers, thatched palms and colorful buntings.

A large stage was set up at the end of the driveway, with the backdrop of Lalbagh’s rock temple in the distance. Seating for the audience was provided opposite the stage under the relief of the shade giving shamiana.

Stalls –

There were rows of stalls put up by various farmer federations from Hassan, Belagavi, Coorg, Mysore etc with colorful displays of Sankranthi pots, jaggery, sugarcane, millet heaps, flowers, lamps and stalks of rice.

Many of the items like jaggery, millets and value added products (snacks) and also handicrafts were also on sale. Some of the federations had also come up with innovative festival gift hampers with snacks made from millets.

As always, there can be no celebration without food and there were various stalls like Kaulige foods, Greenpath organic, Bhoomika organic etc that were selling millet and organic based dishes.

Cultural troupes in multihued costumes welcomed the dignitaries to the beat of drums and music. There was representation from Coorg, Karwar, the Lambanis etc.

The entertainment also included bullock cart rides on vibrantly bedecked carts and oxen that were guided by experienced cart men. They were a great source of entertainment to families and children, who went on joy rides around the driveway.

The Start of the proceedings –

The troupes lined up at the entrance and greeted the Minister, Commissioner and Secretary with drum beats and dancing and then the dignitaries mounted the carts and made a grand entrance in a little procession up the drive.

The dignitaries than visited the stalls and participated in performing the Raashi puja (the harvest ceremony where heaps of grain are venerated in a show of thanksgiving) and interacted with the farmers who had set up their respective displays of produce.

The various events –

The program on the stage then followed, with the Minister making his speech welcoming everyone and conveying the message of the upcoming Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019 to be held at the Bangalore palace grounds from Jan 18th – 20th, 2019.

The cultural events then took over the stage with singing, folkdance and drama depicting folklore.

Food –

The crowds had ample choice of eating options at the various food stalls set up close to the stage. Millet dosa, bisibelebaath, payasam, curd rice etc were the popular items served.

Conclusion –

The events continued through the day right till evening around 5 pm, by which time it had also tuned much more pleasant and saw many more visitors attending the fair.

One state, diverse cultures. This was what the Suggi Huggi event conveyed through its day long melange of activities.